Well Dashboard is coming along well while i wait for my wii's to come home. It does act just like a loader stub, and boots directly to the system menu as if it wasnt there, unless you hold 'X' on the GC Pad or tap Reset (if you dont have a GC controller) which will bring up the dashboard where you are able to:
- continue booting the system menu (and apply select patches that are different than the default set)
- boot any title on the wii (say, the homebrew channel)
- run a dol/elf from frontsd (boot.elf or boot.dol in root, just like tphack...i figured if you had a bunch of dol's to run you would just boot HBC because that's what its for)
- load a dol/elf through network
Also I'd like to mention, The System menu rescue mode is on by default when dashboard loads it...this means when your wii turns on, you can either hold 'X' to go to dashboard, or 'Y' to enter rescue mode (where you can directly boot games from, i know many people liked skipping the menu altogether).
I really like how dashboard is coming together, once installed you're brickproof provided you don't ever screw with 0000000100000002, or do a nintendo update (it wont brick you, it will just overwrite dash). Its a great companion to BootMii.
EDIT: This is in no way defeating the purpose of BootMii. Dashboard does have more functionality than BootMii (at the moment, but there are little details on what BootMii will actually do once released), but it is not as invulnerable to nintendo as BootMii is. Dashboard also changes how the system menu is launched, whereas BootMii does not. I will personally be using BootMii and Dash together once its out, as I recommend everyone should.
@noir any update to dashboard will be just as dangerous as the second option...which is why I plan on making sure dashboard is complete and does not ever need an update (so that it remains a one-time install). Also in my opinion the 1st option doesnt have a downside at all, and is what i believe im going to go with. Oh and thanks for the donation bud, i appreciate it.